National Trails Day is on Saturday, June 1 this year, and we’re planning to celebrate by finishing up the trail resurfacing project at the Gus Fruh access that we started back in March.

We’ll begin at 8:00 AM and work until we’re done, hopefully by 10:30 or 11:00. There’s water in the creek now and the crowds will be arriving, so the sooner we can finish up and get out of the way, the better. It’s also likely to be hot. So we’ll start early and only do the trail work this time instead of the variety of tasks that we usually take on.

We only need about 25 volunteers to complete the trail work but due to the rainy weather and concerns about getting the materials that we need, we’re slow getting organized again. June 1 is only 2 weeks away now! Please let us know as soon as you can if you’re able to work with us that day by sending us an email.

We’re looking forward to getting this job finished and hope that you’ll be able to join us. Breakfast tacos will be provided!

Thanks,
Stan and Glee
www.greenbeltguardians.org

Hi neighbors,

The Austin Parks Foundation’s spring It’s My Park Day is coming up fast – Saturday, March 2.  We’ll be working at the Barton Creek Greenbelt – Gus Fruh access (2642 Barton Hills Drive) from 9:00 until 1:00.  We’ll be resurfacing the entire switchback entry trail with decomposed granite and StaLok.  We’d planned to do this work last fall, but unfortunately our supplier didn’t deliver the materials as promised and we had to reschedule the work.  It’s a big job and we’ll need all the help we can get!  We’ll have some other tasks available (invasives removal, trash pickup, etc.) for those who can’t do trail repair, but our focus will be on getting the trail work done.

Registration is already open – please go to APF’s website here to sign up for our project as soon as you can. You can also email stan@sostrum.com if you have any questions or problems with online registration.

As usual, we’ll have breakfast tacos for everyone and water to refill your bottles. Kids are welcome, but younger ones will need to bring a parent along with them, and anyone under 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the waiver.  We’ll provide the team leaders and tools needed for all of the work.  Please bring a water bottle, a pair of work gloves (if you have them), and wear closed-toe shoes.  Long pants and long sleeves will also help to protect against poison ivy.

We’re looking forward to beautiful weather and another good workday and we hope that lots of you can join us!

Thanks,
Stan Ostrum and Glee Ingram
www.greenbeltguardians.org

Friends and neighbors,

The Greenbelt Guardians have two upcoming workdays this fall that we’d love for you to come out and help us with:

On Saturday September 29th, National Public Lands Day, we’ll be working at the Gus Fruh access from 8:00 AM until noon. The plan, assuming it quits raining before then, is to repave the entire switchback entry trail with decomposed granite and StaLok binder. It needed work before the recent rains and needs it worse now afterwards. We’ve done repair work on various sections over the years, but we haven’t repaved the entire trail since 2005. It’s a big job and we’ll need all the help we can get!

Those of you who’ve helped us do this kind of work before know that we usually mix the DG and StaLok resin on site. Now we can buy it already mixed! That will speed things up considerably, but we’ll still need lots of folks to help get a small mountain of material down the trail, spread, and pack it.

We’re late getting organized – Sept 29th is less than 2 weeks away now! Please let us know as soon as you can if you’re able to volunteer with us that day by sending an email to Stan Ostrum at stan@sostrum.com.

We’ll have some other tasks available (invasives removal, trash pickup, etc.) for those who can’t do trail repair, but our focus will be on getting the trail work completed. Breakfast tacos will be provided!

On Saturday November 3rd from 9:00 until noon, we’ll be working at the Homedale access. That will be the Austin Parks Foundation’s Fall It’s My Park Day, and our focus will be on invasive plant removal. Sign up will be online via APF’s GivePulse system in early October. We’ll send out a reminder with more details then, but please go ahead and put it on your calendar now!

If it sounds like a lot of hard work, well it is, but we have fun too. You’ll get a good workout, meet cool people, spend time in a beautiful setting, and have something to show for your efforts that makes the greenbelt experience better for everyone. We’re looking forward to getting out again and giving back and we hope that a lot of you can join us!

Thanks,
Stan and Glee
www.greenbeltguardians.org